Firefox 2.0 Released!

World’s best browser just got a bit better. Firefox 2.0 has just been released recently with some really nice improvements. I’ve immediately noticed the speed improvement on the startup. I really like the close tab option on the tab itself now.

Here’s what they show:

Visual Refresh: Firefox 2’s theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability without altering
the familiarity of the browsing experience.

Built-in phishing protection:Phishing Protection
warns users when they encounter suspected Web forgeries, and offers to
return the user to their home page. Phishing Protection is turned on by
default, and works by checking sites against either a local or online
list of known phishing sites. This list is automatically downloaded and
regularly updated when the Phishing Protection feature is enabled.

Enhanced search capabilities:
Search term suggestions will now appear as users type in the integrated
search box when using the Google, Yahoo! or Answers.com search engines.
A new search engine manager makes it easier to add, remove and re-order
search engines, and users will be alerted when Firefox encounters a
website that offers new search engines that the user may wish to
install.

Improved tabbed browsing: By default, Firefox will open links in new tabs instead of new windows, and each tab will now have
a close tab
button. Power users who open more tabs than can fit in a single window
will see arrows on the left and right side of the tab strip that let
them scroll back and forth between their tabs. The History menu will
keep a list of recently closed tabs, and a shortcut lets users quickly
re-open an accidentally closed tab.

Resuming your browsing session:
The Session Restore feature restores windows, tabs, text typed in
forms, and in-progress downloads from the last user session. It will be
activated automatically when installing an application update or
extension, and users will be asked if they want to resume their
previous session after a system crash.

Previewing and subscribing to Web feeds: Users can decide how to handle Web feeds (likethis one), either subscribing to them via a Web service or in a
standalone RSS reader, or adding them as Live Bookmarks.
My Yahoo!, Bloglines and Google Reader come pre-loaded as Web service
options, but users can add any Web service that handles RSS feeds.

Inline spell checking: A new built-in spell checker enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web forms
(like this one) without having to use a separate application.

Live Titles: When a website offers a microsummary
(a regularly updated summary of the most important information on a Web
page), users can create a bookmark with a “Live Title”. Compact enough
to fit in the space available to a bookmark label, they provide more
useful information about pages than static page titles, and are
regularly updated with the latest information. There are several websites that can be
bookmarked with Live Titles, and even more add-ons to generate
Live Titles for other popular websites.

Improved Add-ons manager: The new Add-ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, combining
them both in a single tool.

JavaScript 1.7: JavaScript 1.7 is a language update introducingseveral new features
such as generators, iterators, array comprehensions, let expressions,
and destructuring assignments. It also includes all the features of
JavaScript 1.6.

Updates to the extension system: The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier
localization of extensions.

Client-side session and persistent storage:
New support for storing structured data on the client side, to enable
better handling of online transactions and improved performance when
dealing with large amounts of data, such as documents and mailboxes.
This is based on the WHATWG specification
for client-side session and persistent storage.

SVG text: Support for the svg:textpath specification enables SVG text to follow a curve or shape.

Links to check out

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